Sanitary toothbrush



Oct. 16 1923. 1,470,710

L. c. DAVIS SANITARY TOOTHBRUSH 7 Filed Oct. 29, 1919 2 Sheet s-Sheet 1 W INVENTOR.

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|.. c. DAVIS SANITARY TOOTHBRUSH Filed Oct. 29, 1919 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR- LA WPE/VCE 6 0/! W5 W6. mu,

.-ATTORNEY. I

Patented a; is, 1923.

STATES- PATENT OFFICE.

LAENCE C. DAVIS, 03 GEDABIALLS, IOWA, ASSIGNOB T0 DENTABRUSE COMPANY,

A. GORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

SANITARY TOOTHBBUSE.

Application filedbetober 29, 1919. Serial No. 384,627.

To all whom'z't may concern:

Be it known that I, LAWRENCE C. DAVIS,

of Cedar Falls, Iowa, and a citizen of the United States, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Sanitary Toothbrushes,

setforth in the following specification.

The invention relates to instruments which are employed for the purpose of removing deposits of foreign matter from the W surfaces of various objects, and it especially relates to brushes which are used for clean ing the teeth, the principal object of the invention being to produce a brush which is capable of acting upon not only the exterior surfaces of the teeth, but the less accessible proximate surfaces thereof which the ordi- -nar tooth brush is incapable of reaching.

hese ordinary tooth brushes are provided with bristles which are substantially of equal lengths and stiffness, and, if it be attempted to force some of these bristles into the interproximal spaces of the teeth, penetration of those spaces will be prevented by the resistance of other bristles which bear against the bodies of the teeth. Other tooth brushes contain tufts of stiff and relatively soft or pliable bristles, but these brushes contain no means for sustaining the stifi bristles against lateral displacement, and it is, consequently,

difl'icult to cause these stifl' bristles to enter the spaces between teeth to thereby clean the approximal surfaces thereof. A tooth brush having a limited number of bristles may be caused to reach into these inter-proximal spaces, but such a special brush is unfitted for general uses, and, furthermore, is of limited utility inasmuch as the bristles are unsustained laterally and are therefore liable to bend or break under pressure.

The brush which I have devised is provided with laterally sustained bristles and is therefore adapted, not only to clean and olish the outer and more exposed surfaces,

of teeth, but to reach the hitherto practically inaccessible proximate surfaces and to remove therefrom or prevent the formation of the so-called plaques which are the direct cause of diseases of teeth and gums. This brush is also adapted for use in massaging and hardening the gums.

The invention will be understood by referring to the accompanying drawings in wh1ch- I Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the brush body and the handle assembled;

Figure 2 is a erspective view of the handle with the loc ring device released;

Figure 3 is a section through 3-3 of Fi re 1;

igure 4 is a section through 4-4. of 00 Fiure' 1; V a

igure 5 is a view showing a stri of the wrapping material from which the ody of the brush is formed, and showing the penetrative filaments of the brush;

Figure 6 is a view showing the application of the brush to teeth;

Figure 7 represents a piece of lufia;

Figure 8 is a View of a modifying wrappin and lugure 9 is a view of another modified wrapping.

The body of the brush 1 is composed of two principal parts, one part of which contains a narrow row or a plurality of narrow (6 rows of abrasive, penetrative filaments 2, which are preferabl straight and stiff and are disposed in a su tantially median position in said body, and the other part of which is made of yielding fibrous vegetable or other cellulose 3, arranged in such away as to envelop and constitute lateral supports for the penetrative filaments when they are pushed into the inter-proximal spaces 4 of the teeth. This yielding material may be- 83- resilient and, if so, will tend to restore the penetrative filaments to normal upright positions as the brush is passed from tooth to tooth.

Thepenet-rative filaments 2 may be common bristles, but are preferably vegetable or cellulose fibres, such as Tampicoor bast fibres which, provided they are sufficiently stiff will effectuate the removal or prevent the formation of incipient plaques. II

The enveloping yielding part of the brush is preferably composed of the cellulose that is known as lufi'a fibre 5, this being the fibrous mass constituting the linings of certain Indian and African and Texan gourds which are respectively known as Luyfa AcutanguZa and Lufi'a Oyh'ndwlca or Lufa (Egyptian. These linings contain layers in one of which the fibres 6 are ap roximately parallel, while the other layers 2 are of re- 106 ticulate form. In cuttin these linings for use in a brush, the incision is made across the fibres 6, so that the cut ends thereof will appear at the surface of the brush and a reticulated layer 7 will constitute the side 1! of the brush. This disposition of the respective layers is advantageous inasmuch as the parallel fibres are thus positioned where their abrasive and absorptive properties may be utilized, and the reticulated fibres are so situated that their relatively smooth surfaces may be employed for the purpose of massaging the ms. The penetrative filaments are enve oped by apieceof the aforesaid cut lining.

The completed brush body, which ma or may not be impregnated with a suitab e dentifrice, such as a. suitable powder mixed with a binder in solution, that is, a binder made adhesive by moisture, is 'preferabl in the form of a compressed block whic is adapted to be firmly clamped in a suitable handle 8, said handle being so desi ed as to be capable of exerting substantially uniform pressures upon and throughout the length of the brush body. It has been found diflicult to secure the individual penetrative filaments unlessthey are all subjected to the same degree of pressure, but this result may be attained if the clamping portion of the handle has parallel jaws 10 and 11, which will operate to produce these equal pressures or unless an adhesive binder is employed. The reticulated fibres of the body portion assist in the locking of the straight penetrative fibres in place, the pressure of the clamped jaws, due either to their movement toward each other, or to the swelling of the 'wetted bod portions of the fibres acting to cause t e reticulated fibres to crimp said penetrative filaments which hi terlock' therewith and thus produce a secure anchorage for said filaments. r The jaws :10 and 11 of the handle are united at their extremities bya thin flexible hinge 12, which may be made integral with'said' jaws. Thishinge is preferably straight as shown, sothat 1t will not yield under the strain which is incident to the clamping operation, and in order-that it may actmerel as a tensional member of the clamp. T e flexibility of said hinge should not be impaired by excessive tempering, but it maybe mildly tempered to cause it to maintain the jaws of the clamp in slightly divergent relation to each other to enable the body of the brush to be easily introduced between said jaws. 1

The handle 8 is preferably made of a single piece of semi-cylindrical metal, portions of which at the middle part 13 of the handle are juxtaposed to form acylindrical stem, a continuation of one of these parts being the 'aw 10. The jaw 11 1185,18. free emi-cylin rical end 14, which may lie flat against a part 15 of the handle when the jaws are grasping the body of the brush. The juxtaposed portions of the handle are united by a band 16 or otherwise. A sleeve 17 which is adaptecLto slide on the handle constitutes the locking means .for the free end 14 of the jaw 11.

The handle is bent to form a scraper or cleaner, 18, which is to be used in removin deposits from the tongue.

igure 8 shows a mass of spongy rubber 19, having serrations 20 and pores 21, which mass maybe substituted for the lufla hereinbefore described.

A further modification of the brush body may be made by using a woven piece of fabric, as shown in Figure 9. Thls fabric may have wefts 22, of any suitable and relatively stiff fibres, such as bast fibres, and warp threads 23 of cotton or other substance commonly employed in weaving. The penetrative filaments may be wrapped in pieces of this fabric in the 'same way that they are wrapped in the lufl'a fibre. The fabric will, of course, be cut in such a way as to resent the ends of the wefts to the teeth w en the brush is used.

In order to ensure and maintain complete sterility of the brush body, itis sterilized in any suitable manner, and tightly wrapped in foil, or wax paper. This wrapping, for sanitary reasons, should be removed without allowing the fingers to touch said body. e

The parts of the brush are so related that it will be found convenient to utilize each of the parts thereofiin the manner contemplated. For scrubbing the extraneous parts of the teeth thebrush will be employed in the same way as an ordinary tooth brush, while, to reach the proximatesurfaces, the

brush, will be pressed against the teeth crossof the envelope enabling the envelope to receive and retain foreign substances carried by the gums, orexpressed from cavities beneath diseased gums.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is: i i

1. A tooth-brush body including a mass of juxtaposed filaments, an enveloping reticulated mass of absorptive cellulose, and a binder adhesively securing saidfilaments in position.

2. tooth-brush body including a mass of juxtaposed filaments constitutin a portion only of said brush body, and a binding dentifrice adhesively securing said filaments in position.

3. A tooth-brush body including a narrow row of juxtaposed filaments, an adjacent mass of absorptive cellulose, and a binder adhesively securing said filaments in position.

4. A tooth-brush body including filaments composed of cellulose, and a binder adhesively securing said filaments in position, said filaments being associated with an enveloping mass of reticulated cellulose.

5. A tooth-brush body comprising a block including a group of substantially straight filaments, and a binder for'said filaments, the entire block being compressed into an integral whole. 1

6. A tooth-brush body comprising a compressedblock including a group of substantially straight filaments, a binder for said filaments, and a dentifrice mixed-with said binder.

7. A tooth-brush body comprising a block including a group of substantially straight filaments, said filaments being compressed at their lower ends and united thereat by an adhesive binder. I

8. A tooth-brush body including a group of abrasive filaments terminating at one face thereof, and a coherent layer of cellulose disposed on a contiguous face thereof.

9. A tooth-brush body including a group of abrasive filaments, and a yielding sheath for said filaments.

10. A tooth-brush body including a group of abrasive filaments, and an expansible absorbent sheath for said filaments.

11. A tooth-brush body having a median row of still filaments, and absorptive, compressible sustaining bodies disposed on opposite sides of said filaments.

12. A tooth-brush body having a row of filaments adapted'to pass between the teeth and reach plaques disposed on proximate surfaces thereof, and a yielding mass of cellulose of substantially the same height as said filaments.

13. A tooth-brush body having a row of juxtaposed filaments, and a coextensive sheath of yielding absorptive material for laterally sustaining said filaments.

14. A tooth-brush body having a row of 17. A tooth-brushbody comprisin penetrative filaments, and a massaging e ement, said filaments and said element being composed of cellulose.

18. A tooth-brush body comprising a mass of filaments, and an envelope for said filaments having fibers interlocked with said filaments.

'19. A tooth-brush body comprising a row of filaments of uniform thickness, and an envelope for -said filaments also of uniform thickness and having fibers interlocked with said filaments;

20. A tooth-brush body having a median row of relatively stiff filaments, and yielding compressible and absorptive bodies of reticulated or inter-connected vegetable fiber arranged at the sides of said filaments.

21. A tooth-brush body having a median row of relatively stiff filaments, and compressible andabsorptive sustaining bodies of loofah fiber arranged at the sides of said filaments and having the parallel fibers thereof cut to constitute the abrasive surface of the brush.

22. A tooth-brush body having a row of penetrative' filaments enclosed within a folded strip of vegetable fiber which contains substantially parallel fibers terminating at the abrasive surface of said brush In testimony whereof I afiix my si ature. LAWRENCE C. D VIS. 

